JAMES PATTERSON TO RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITER'S 2007 THRILLER MASTER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THRILLER GENRE

August, 2006: The International Thriller Writers, Inc (ITW) is delighted to announce that the 2007 ThrillerMaster Award for outstanding contribution to the thriller genre will be presented to author James Patterson during ThrillerFest 2007, hosted by ITW.

Author Clive Cussler, 2006 ThrillerMaster Award recipient and a spotlight guest for ThrillerFest 2007, will present the award to Patterson during a gala Thriller Awards Ceremony on July 14, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. During the ceremony ITW also will present its Thriller Awards covering five categories including The Distinguished Literature Award; Best Novel; Best First Novel; Best Paperback Original and Best Script.

James Patterson is ITW's second ThrillerMaster award recipient. The first Award was presented to Clive Cussler during ITW's inaugural ThrillerFest, a blockbuster event with more than 100 thriller authors and 400 thriller fans in attendance, which took place at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Arizona, in summer of 2006.

"For more than 30 years, James Patterson has actively contributed to the thriller genre both through an outstanding body of work as well as his contributions to promoting literacy", said M. Diane Vogt, vice-president of ITW Events. "We are delighted to be presenting this award to him."

First published in 1976, Patterson has over 40 books in print translated into more than 30 languages. Founder of the Page Turner Awards, which annually distributes more than $500,000 in cash prizes in an effort to spread the excitement and joy of reading, Patterson is the recipient of the Edgar Award, The BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year and The International Thriller of the Year Award.

Patterson also edited ITW's first anthology entitled THRILLER: Stories to Keep You up All Night (MIRA Books, June 2006), which received a record-breaking six figure advance. This first-ever all-thriller anthology includes original stories by 30 of the leading authors of the genre, all of whom are ITW members, with introductions and prefaces to each story written by Patterson.
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Founded in October 2004, at the Bouchercon World Suspense Conference in Toronto, Canada, the International Thriller Writers organization (ITW) was created by thriller authors to celebrate the thriller, to enhance the prestige and raise the profile of thrillers, to award prizes to outstanding thriller novels and authors, and to create marketing opportunities for authors within the thriller community. ITW boasts a membership of more than 400 authors (many of whom are New York Times bestsellers) with worldwide sales exceeding 1.8 billion books.

ThrillerFest 2007. July 12 - Jul 15 2007 Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City www.ThrillerFest.com
www.internationalthrillerwriters.com